How companies can keep their edge as recruiting ramps up

Recruiting is expected to ramp up in the coming months and employees and employers are preparing to navigate a new hiring landscape.

Almost half of employees plan to look for a new job this year, according to research from job searching site Monster. Employees can feel optimistic about their options: over 80% of employers plan to make new hires and hire back previously laid off and furloughed employees.

The pandemic has forced recruiters to adapt — 48% of companies expanded postal codes for potential recruits and 47% added more remote roles to existing positions. These shifts may be permanent post-COVID.

“We're forging a different path that will not turn back,” says Quincy Valencia, leader of the recruiting assistance platform Hourly by AMS. “The companies who've been forward-thinking and asked ‘How are we going to position ourselves?’ have already seen positive gains.”

fWith so many options available to prospective candidates, it’s important for companies to keep their edge amidst a competitive landscape. The first step is properly marketing job openings at your organization, says Quincy Valencia, leader of the recruiting assistance platform Hourly by AMS.

Read more: 3 tech tools making work easier this year

“If you have job openings make sure that people know,” she says. “You need to make sure that you're attracting people — not everyone goes on a job board and not everyone that you want to work for you is actively looking for work.”

However, getting candidates’ attention isn’t enough — the follow through is just as critical, Valencia says. Making the application process easy and intuitive not only facilitates the search for the hiring manager, but adds to the candidate’s experience with the company.

“Unfortunately, an integrated matrix of technology makes it difficult for both candidate and hiring manager to wade through,” Valencia says. “Sometimes you could get stuck in there and then there's no way around it.”

Companies have already begun creating recruiting models that both facilitate hiring and improve the overall quality of the process. Job searching site Indeed recently launched Indeed Hiring Platform, a service that allows employers to screen candidates and interview them directly through the platform and payroll, HR and benefits company Simpeo teamed up with hiring platform GoodJob on a new talent acquisition tool designed to utilize AI technology to navigate remote recruiting.

“Make sure that you are targeting your systems and your processes and your technology to meet the demand of those potential workers that you are specifically targeting,” Valencia says. “A one size fits all approach doesn’t really work.”

Read more: The biggest recruiting trends this year

Finally, one of the most important resources at companies’ disposal when recruiting new talent is by supporting the talent they already have — managers. When managers and recruiters aren’t properly taken care of, they’re unable to prioritize hiring.

“Make sure that you’re making it easier for those managers to get the people that they need,” Valencia says. “If you’re expecting them to [hire more], you better give them the tools to do it.”

Companies can lessen the weight on managers’ shoulders by automating as many processes as they can and bringing in excess help from other departments should the applicant pool be shallow.

“It's not just all of a sudden going to be an employers market again,” Valencia says. “So it's about taking the time now to look at every single step of the process for applicants and for managers and be really honest about what it's going to take to improve.”